The German colonial Empire
Before the Weltkrieg, Germanies colonial Empire was just a collection of pieces of Africa the other colonial powers didn’t want and a large number of practically useless Pacific islands. The victory during the Weltkrieg, and subsequent annexation of large parts of the Allied colonies changed Germany from a minor colonial power into the single largest colonial power in the world. The war won Germany the Belgian Congo, together with most of Frances sub-Saharan colonies in Africa, as well as its Asian and Pacific possesions. After the British Revolution the Kaiserliche Marine managed to secure many of Britains strategically placed colonies and naval bases, while the colonial troops in Africa restored control in Britains African colonies, which where in the throes of revolt themselves. Today Germany is often regarded as the last of the great European Empires, with only lesser powers as Portugal and the Netherlands still in possession of a sizable colonial Empire. National France can be considered a colonial Empire in exile, although the French argue Algeria is part of Metropolitan France.
The famed Askari holding a drill in Dar-es-Salaam
The Naval colonies: defending Germanies place under the sun
Naval High Command knew that in order to expand Germanies strategic capabilities, Germany would have to acquire a number of naval bases all around the world to facilitate quick action to defend Germanies interests around the world. As such, as early as 1919, the naval high command had started plans for setting up naval bases in strategic positions, most of which would have to be acquired from defeated allied nations. Unfortunately for the planners of the Kaiserliche Marine, the 1921 Peace with Honour with Britain prevented the inclusion of British and Portugese colonies and possesions into the plan. In order to gain a homebase for a planned Mittelmeerflotte, Admiral Hipper conveyed the demand for a German occupation of Crete to the diplomats negotiating the Treaty of Athens. Germany was given a 99-year lease of Crete to Germany by a thoroughly humiliated Greek government. Former prime-minister Venizelos, born and raised on Crete, furiously and rabidly accused the government of treason and called for the asssination of the traitors responsible for giving away part of the Greek homeland. Venizelos actions led to weeks of bloody streetfighting and at least three Greek delegates signing the treaty where lynched in the streets. The occupation of Crete itself proved to be costly as well. The proud Cretans started a campaign of passive and active resistance against the German occupation, leading to occasional shootouts between German marines and Cretan partisans. The situation on Crete only cooled down in 1925, when the occupation of the British bases of Malta and Suez obsoleted the new base at Heraclion. Unwilling to give up the island to the hostile Greeks the semi-authonomous state of Crete was created, giving the Cretans homerule under a German governor, with the Kaiserliche Marine maintaining a token presense in Heraclion.
The collapse of Britain, and the acquisition of the traditional British strongpoints of Malta and Suez giving the Kaiserliche Marine the bases it had so desired, even if Gibraltar was taken by Spain before any action could be undertaken to sieze it. Suez became the base of operations for the German Mittelmeerflotte, with its commander being in nominal command of all Mediterranean holdings. Suez and the channel are under direct control of the Naval ministry, even if Egypt is allowed to maintain de jure ownership of Suez. Malta is governed by a governor appointed by the Ministry of Navy, although the people of Malta have the right to elect a consulting assembly.
The ports of Aden and Djibouti (in German Somaliland) are also controlled by the Navy, defending access to the Red Sea(although only a token fleet of elderly destroyers is available fort his task). In the Orient the main bases of operation are Tsingtau, Singapore and Colombo, although only Singapore and the former Strait Colonies are under direct Naval jurisdiction. A ferce rivalry has developed between the commander of Singapore and the governor of the Qingdao-Peninsula (where Tsingtau lies) over where the main base of the Ostasienflotte should be.
Mittelafrika: the state within the state
Former colonial secretary Wilhelm Solf is often seen as the father of Mittelafrika. It was Solf that first saw that the massive acquisitions in Africa be almost impossible to administer under the systems of administration the German colonies knew and envisioned a solution tot his problem based on the model of the British Raj. He envisioned a decentralized state, governed by a Statthalter answering directly to the cabinet and Emperor. This Statthalter would control the colony through a network of German and natvie bureaucrats, cooperating their efforts with German officials, local chieftains and non-German European settlers. Balancing the interests of the local population and European colonists would be a daunting task. Luckily for Solf, the first Statthalter, legendary warhero Paul von Lettow-Vorbeck proved tob e the perfect man for the task. Lettow-Vorbeck possessed a unique combination of charisma and toughness that allowed him to either charm or bully the many tribal elders and local chiefs, as well as French, British or Belgian colonials into accepting a balance of power favouring Germany. After a highly succesfull tenure as Statthalter, Lettow-Vorbeck followed Solf into retirement in 1933, although the restless Lettow-Vorbeck soon joined the NLP faction in the Reichstag to combat the populist Alldeutscher Verband. Ironically Lettow-Vorbecks successor was a man often suspected of AV sympathies, the Bavarian governor of Südwest-Afrika Hermann Göring. After the Weltkrieg, Göring had chosen to pursue a career in the Colonies, knowing that he wouldn’t have much chance for advancement in the Luftstreitkräfte. The charming former ace proved to be as effective, if more brutal, in governing the Freistaat. Still, many whisper the Statthalters ambitions stretch further than Dar-es-Salaam.
Besides the Freistaat, the German Empire owns two protectorates on the dark continent in the form of Madagascar and Morocco. Madagscar couldn’t be allowed to fall to native revolution, yet lies too far from the African mainland tob e integrated into Mittelafrika. As such the native monarchy was restored, but has to accept the ‘advice’ of a German governor. The removal of Morocco from the French sphere of influence was a direct wish of Wilhelm II himself, to avenge his humiliation during the Agadir-crisis. Neither Sultan Mohammed V or Spain where in a position to argue when Germany replaced France in the dual protectorate over the sultanate.
Statthalter (viceroy) and General der Flieger Hermann Wilhelm Göring. A Weltkrieg fighter ace who married into wealth. The combination of being a warhero, charming, very wealthy and family of former colonial administrators made him both the second Statthalter of Mittelafrika and the golden boy of many staunch nationalists.
China: a new form of imperialism
Before the Weltkrieg, Germany only held the city of Tsingtau, a port dominated by the Germania brewery. It fell to the Japanese Imperial Army during the Weltkrieg after a short but bloody siege, but was reluctantly returned to Germany after the war. It was from this port that German forces launched their march on Beijing in 1926, in support of the Xu Shichang-government. The price for German support was that the Chinese government had to secede the rest of the Qingdao-peninsula and Hainan island to Germany, and had to lend Germany vast economic concessions in the provinces of Guanxi, Guandong, Hunan, Jianxi, Fujian and Zhejian. The Qingdao-peninsula, and Tsingtau in particular, are vital for maintaining Germanies grip on Asia, being a dagger pointed at both Beijing and the Japanese homelands.
The main gate of Tsingtau. more than 50 years of German rule have turned the city into an unique mix of Hamburg and the Orient.
The exploitation of the economic concessions gained in Southern China was delegated to a newly created company: the Allgemeiner OstAsiatische Gemeinschaft, a joined venture between many of Germanies most respected companies and the government itself. Not only did the concessions give these compasnies access to a huge new market, it also provided them with a vast supply of cheap labour. Often the chronically underpaid Chinese workers where actually producing the same goods that they would buy from the newly opened shops a few days later. In order to maintain control and quell unrest the Empire appointed a Governor-General for the region, currently Generaloberst Alexander von Falkenhausen overseeing the German forces and German trained Chinese
konstabler (constables) and Imperial interests in the region in exchange for a significant investment in the AOG.
Southeast-Asia and the Pacific: the forgotten colonies
Germany has significant possesions in South-East Asia. Most of the French colony of Indochina was secured with the aid of Siam after the Weltkrieg, with Siam gaining control over Cambodia in exchange their aid in supressing any rebellion. Yet German rule over Indochina is shallow at best, with most lower and midlevel colonial posts still being filled by French colonials, with Germany not willing to waste its few colonial administrators on Indochina. Siam aided the Empire once again after the fall of Britain, gaining most of Malaya, as Germany was only interested in the Strait Colonies for obvious strategic reasons. The British colonies and protectorates of Sabah, Brunei and Sarawak where occupied and reorganized into the colony of German Borneo (ousting both the troublesome sultan of Brunei and the White Rajas of Sarawak) and turned the colony into a prime source of oil for the Empire.
A squad of Papuan Schützen holding a drill. Usually troops like these where only used for maintaining control over a colony, not actual combat. The only exception to this where the famed Mittelafrikan Askari or the Chinese 'Konstabler' employed by the AOG.
Despite being among Germanies oldest colonial possesions, the German Pacific colonies are little more than a a first posting for would-be administrators or a place of banishment for disgraced officers or administrators. Traditionally the large collection of islands are ruled from Rabaul in German New Guinea, with the protectorate of Samoa forming a separate colony. After the Weltkrieg, New Caledonia and Tahiti where added to the colonies, adding a vocal French minority to the colonies. A recent problem has been the influx of Japanese immigrants in the Marianas, with Saipan in particular being dominated by immigrants. German governors have delayed the implementation of any of Berlins bans on immigration out of fear of rebellion, or worse, Japanese intervention.
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